Fanclub Jacen Solo Fan Club: Forever in the Light

I refuse to read about Darth Vader II (Darth Caedus) or accept him for a reason, because the concept just doesn't work for me and I had completely different expectations for the post-NJO.

 

So, a thread for those who love Jacen Solo and find his entire descent into 'Darth Caedus' to be sloppy, ridiculous and an overused plotline? Well, sign me up!

 

Yes, ma'am! Though I'm not sure not everyone feels that way

Also, Zeta, I felt the same way for a long time. I recently decided to start reading them anyway, but I don't feel any differently so far.

 

We're a pretty small group. And JG, you probably won't feel any different later...it only gets more unbelievable as it drags on...at least it did for me. The more I think about it, the more the timeline of LotF becomes an impossibility--politics and militaries just don't move that fast.

 

Apparently they do... when they're being sucked into a plothole!

 

Yep, these plotholes are the black holes of literature...so dense that even Jedi cannot escape!

 

Jacen isn't my most favorite character ever with all of the reversals in his characterization but liked him in the 2nd half of the NJO and in YJK and do not see why they turned him dark. Why?

 

'Why. The most dangerous question of all.'--Vergere.

'Cause they were too lazy to come up with a better storyline. IMO, their thought process went something like this: 'Well, the Sith seem to be popular now...let's turn Jacen into a Sith Lord 'cause the fans don't like him anyway.'

Thanks for that dead-end story line, LFL.

 

I just finished LOTF: Tempest and can I point out how much I ADORED the battle between Jacen and Aurra Sing, everything else aside? I thought that part was well-written... I could almost feel his desperation to protect Allana.

Me, while reading that scene =

 

IMO, the one thing that Denning got right was the way Jacen ALWAYS was nice and loving to Allana. People tend to forget that he never was mean, never yelled, never threatened his little girl. Some of the fanficcers over on FF.N portray him as this evil baddie in his treatment of Allana...and he never did.

Aurra Sing, though? C'mon, she's like 90-odd by this time. Couldn't we come up with a better villain to try and kidnap Allana? A shameless plug for TCW, methinks.

 

I also enjoyed that battle. I agree, it's very clear that he's acting as a desperate father here, who just wants to protect his child. (Would've made it all the more tragic if it ended up that Allana really was the sacrifice he had to make to ascend to Sith Mastery. Hmm.) I remember that he even shirked away from using Force Lightning because he didn't want Allana to see him use it. This is a man who has mindraped, manipulated, and outright killed a fellow Jedi because he had some bad daydreams. The idea that he would then shirk away from something so visibly violent because of what his child might think is actually quite a nice touch to me.

Indeed it really does come down to nothing more than laziness. And I think that a few people may not have liked Vergere's teachings, and therefore felt a need to nip them in the bud by pointing there finger at LOTF and shouting "LOOK! See where her teachings lead?! The Dark Side! Sith!" Even in DNT this could be seen with the Jedi at the end just going back to their original view of the Force like it was nothing.

 

DarthJenari That's exactly what is was. Laziness. I never bought that she was evil. The whole thing was questionable as heck but evil? Please. Her time with the Vong probably did warp her views to make the breaking that bad but it had to happen so Jacen could unlearn what he had learned.
The whole Palpatine aspect of is possible, I don't trust Lumiya at all (since turning Jacen to the Dark Side would harm Luke more than killing Luke or Jacen ever would) but she probably would learn all about the Dark Side if she could. Vergere was above all that Jedi and Sith nonsense. She would help anyone. Vong, Jedi, Sith if Krayt was to be believed. Jacen was being set up to be the same. Then with the Force trip, Jacen would use the new found powers he learned to help make people's lives throughout the galaxy better without having to turn against his family.

 

Can I join? I like Jacen.

I refuse to accept that he turned into a crazy person and died. He lives on in my own personal headcannon. It's the same one that Anakin Solo, Chewie and Thrawn still live in, so he has plenty of company.

 

Indeed, I personally just split his life into 3 separate characters. Conception-NJO Jacen, DNT Jacen, Darth Caedus. I love the first, don't really mind the second, and can't stand the third.

 

Jacen in the 2nd half of the NJO and in YJK is my favorite character but I absolutely loathe him as Vader Jr.. Can I join?

 

So, for you Jacen fans: do you believe Jacen turned back to the light before his death, like Jaina believed, or was Leia right–it was just wishful thinking? Personally, I want to believe that he turned back to the light in the end, rather than that he died evil, but when Luke and Ben found his spirit in FOTJ, his eyes were yellow until Luke said "Jacen," at which point the eyes turned brown and Jacen talked to them. But even then, Jacen still seemed very much the sociopathic Sith Lord, talking to Ben about "how he'd taught him to use his anger" or some other stupid drivel. And then, in Apocalypse, Jacen said "Oh, sure, everyone blame the Sith Lord," though this was likely a joke instead of a statement. So, what do you think?

 

I like to believe Jacen never turned evil, and LotF and FotJ was all a terrible dream. Joking aside, (well, not really joking ) when I finished LotF, I felt like he finally realized that he had caused some terrible things to happen (such as the nano-virus thing targeting his daughter), but still thinks he was right to joining the Sith and attempting to unify and protect the galaxy from what he saw in his vision.

 

Sadly, I think you're right. Jacen was the type to always try to do the right thing, and always believe he's doing the right thing. It would've been very hard to convince him otherwise, even if they had been able to take him alive.

 

Nope. Not much to really say on this except I didn't get that sense from his final scene in Invincible, and the way he acted later on during FOTJ just reinforces that for me.

 

I'm right there with you, Shadow Trooper. Actually I do that with a lot of media. I've found X-Men 3 to be a pretty good movie when I pretend that Cyclops just got knocked out and thrown into the bushes and the rest of the movie is just his fevered dream.

 

I REALLY hate these scenes in FotJ. To me, it's Denning saying, "Yes, Jacen is a Sith and there's not a damned thing you can do about it.' Just his way of sticking the knife in a bit deeper, IMO. It's like he knows how big a mistake the LotF storyline was, but is unwilling to change tack and try to redeem any of it.

 

I definitely want to join in!

Jacen was a character that I grew up with. When I was a young teenager I was reading Young Jedi Knights (Jacen as a teenager). I grew up with him (so to speak). I loved his character and walked with him. I always loved his way with animals and, of course, his stupid jokes (and the way Invincible put some of those quotes at the chapter headings...wow talk about making it more emotional for me to see him fall). I loved his journey in the NJO and felt that in LOTF he was ultimately trying to do what he thought was right and best for the galaxy....But I disagree in the way in which he chose. (I go with the authors and don't try to convince myself it was a dream or anything and just deal with it). I think Jacen (in NJO, which I'm currently re-reading) believed always that the ends never justify the means (he quit using the Force out of fear for doing something wrong out of aggression..out of making the end justify an attack or an aggressive action). Of course I think he found the balance of acting to protect with aggression as not dangerous. But still I don't think Jacen in NJO would have fallen to do what he did in LOTF. That being said I think he chose what he did in LOTF out of a true desire to protect and make the galaxy right and avoid greater darkness. (again I think he was wrong to chose the method, but that was his choice and I respect that, however much I disagree). So I followed him on his wrong path and cringed every moment but still felt like I was with him, almost hoping to urge him to stop going down that path. Ultimately it was bittersweet when he was defeated by Jaina (I wanted him to be redeemed and live, not killed). And I really enjoyed FOTJ in its exploration of Jacen's path. Ultimately I think he never fully lost his humanity and kindness (seen with Allana Solo for example) and ultimately at the end of the day is true to the light (at his core).

 

My first Jacen experience was betrayal of maybe YJK, but really LOTF was the first series I read. He was my favorite characyer. Then Jaina murdered him in cold blood. I hate her, because HE WAS GOOD AGAIN AND SHE MURDERED HIM

 

Ignore the post-NJO and you will be far better off because of it.

 

I love Jacen's relationship with Allana. One of the few good things about Denning's book is how he wrote them.